Dianmu was somewhat skeptical. Although the garrison in Gaoping was tenacious, how could such a small number of men have slaughtered Shehetai's three thousand troops so badly?

"It's reinforcements! The Han army's reinforcements have arrived!"

Dianmu asked urgently, "Reinforcements? How many men do they have?"

Remembering Dong Zhuo's instructions, Shehetai hurriedly said, "Fifty thousand cavalrymen, each one brave and skilled in battle, we were no match for them and were utterly defeated."

Dianmu glared angrily at Shehetai, "Nonsense! You think you can escape unscathed after being ambushed by 50,000 cavalry?"

Three thousand against fifty thousand—even a fool would know the outcome. Yet Sheghtai blurted it out. Besides, these routed soldiers didn't even have a horse; how could they possibly outrun a cavalry pursuit? Did Sheghtai think he was less than a fool? How could he be so easily fooled?

Seemingly sensing Dianmu's murderous aura, Shehetai hurriedly explained, "Great sir, everything I said is true. If I hadn't acted decisively and ordered my men to abandon the warhorses and armor..."

The Han army, driven by greed, were only concerned with seizing horses and weapons, and had no intention of pursuing us; otherwise, we would likely have been completely annihilated!

Shehetai's lame excuse immediately darkened Dianmu's expression. He truly wished he could draw his sword and hack this person who treated him like a fool to death.

Although he was furious, he thought that Shehetai was a powerful figure in his tribe, and if he rashly killed him, others would feel insecure, which would be very detrimental to his efforts to unify the various tribes of Xianling Qiang.

Dianmu had no choice but to suppress his anger, then helped Shehetai up and ordered people to prepare water and food for Shehetai and his men.

"I see. The Shehetai chieftain is indeed brave and resourceful. As for the warhorses and weapons lost by your troops, I will redeploy them!"

"Mr. Xie Dahao".

Shehetai could hear the sarcasm and ridicule from Dianmu, but he didn't care at all. All he wanted now was to have a full meal and some hot soup.

Dianmu, back in his tent, also began to fly into a rage.

"Hmph, this Shehetai is infuriating!"

Dianmu's son, Dianxian, spoke up: "Father, in my opinion, this Shehetai must be afraid of your punishment in battle, so he lied and said that the Han army has 50,000 cavalry. In my opinion, the Han army is definitely not many!"

“Hmm, that makes sense!” Dianmu pondered for a moment, “However, Shehetai is right about one thing: the Han army’s reinforcements have definitely arrived. We must find out the true strength of the Han army.”

"This is not difficult; we just need to find a few defeated soldiers who escaped and question them!"

"Yes, you're in charge of this matter. Make sure you find out everything."

"Please rest assured, Father!"